Promise?

Sadie and I are having a battle of the wills today. It hasn't been a pleasant day for either of us.
She just yelled, "I am NEVER going to talk to that mama again!!"
Unfortunately, that little threat didn't last very long. :Þ

We Are So Excited!

We are all so excited for Christmas tomorrow. Bethanie has kept us up to date on the count down for a few weeks now. It is so much fun because this year both of the girls understand what is going on.
This year Bethanie has asked Santa for a "cash register". Sadie has asked Santa for a "pat pat rocket" and a "barbie that cooks".
The girls have been good this year and I think they will avoid the coal. :)

She's Been Hit

I just wanted to share this picture of Bethanie after being hit by a snowball. Who was the culprit? Her own father! Can you believe it? :)

Caught You!

Recently we have had to remind Sadie CONSTANTLY to keep her finger out of her nose.
The other night we were sitting at dinner when, out of nowhere, Sadie says,
"Mom, a long, long, long, long time ago I saw you with your finger in your nose."

The Evil Twin

Sadie has an evil twin. Whenever I ask her what she is doing, when she is doing something that she probably shouldn't be, she always responds with, "I am not Sadie. I am Emily."
Yesterday her father met Emily for the first time. He was unaware of the evil twin.
He had a long conversation with Emily. He asked her where she was from, where her family lived, etc.
She had valid and consistent answers for every question given.
When he asked why Emily looked so much like Sadie, Sadie told him that sometimes friends look alike.
I told Sean I wanted to meet Emily's mother to make sure Sean had nothing to do with Emily's existence. :)

This Deal Is Over!

Tonight at dinner we had peas. Sadie made up a new, and very surprising, song. The words were quite repetitive, but they went like this...
"I just can't get enough peas, I just can't get enough peas... I need more peas, cause I just can't get enough peas!"
After asking for seconds of her peas and polishing those off, I told her that she needed to eat her chicken and her rice. She told me that she was done eating. I told her she wasn't done until she ate some of her chicken and rice.
She said, "This is MY deal and this deal is OVER!!"

Dressing Up

I just HAD to post this picture.

A Mission Call

My brother Chad opened his mission call last night. He is going to the Montreal, Canada mission. He will be speaking French. Cool, huh?

Print It

This morning Sadie told me her brother was going to look like her. He needed to have curly hair. She insisted. Then she said, "Curly hair, print it out."

That's An Order!

Sadie was just doing the potty dance in front of me. I told her to run and use the bathroom. She turned around and bolted down the hall screaming all of the way.
She kept screaming, "Don't go pee pee on the floor, Sadie! Don't go pee pee on the floor, Sadie!"
She yelled that until she was firmly planted on the toilet.
She made it. :)

That's Funny

Sean and I haven't gotten a real tree for Christmas since Bethanie's first Christmas. We bought a fake one the following year and have used that ever since. This year Sean decided he want a big, beautiful, real tree. We have cathedral ceilings in our home, so we wanted to go big.
Friday night we took the girls to a tree farm. We froze as we walked around for a half hour picking out the perfect fir tree. We finally settled on a tree that is 8 1/2 feet tall. I must say, it didn't seem quite so tall standing next to all of the other trees out there!
A man came over and cut it down for us. Then he took it over to a little station where they prepped and wrapped it up for the ride home.
Sadie asked, "What is he doing to that tree?"
Sean, "He is getting it ready for us to take home."
Sadie, "We are taking the tree HOME?"
Sean, "Yes, we are going to go decorate it."
Sadie, "Hmmm... That's funny!"
I don't think that moment would have stuck out to me as much if the guy helping us didn't start cracking up at that point. He thought Sadie was hilarious.
We spent Saturday afternoon decorating our tree. It is lovely and we are happy.

Not Anything

On Friday night Sadie had a little indentity crisis. Her once very curly hair is nto so curly anymore. It is wavy if we let it air dry, but a lot of the curl has grown out of it.
Sadie said, "Mommy, my hair isn't curly anymore! I am not Sadie. I don't have curly hair so I am not Sadie. I have straight hair now so I am not anything. I want to be Sadie again! You have to make my hair get curly again! I am not anything!"

SNOW!

Bethanie came running in to my bedroom this morning very happy.
"The first BIG snow mom! The first big snow! It is so exciting! It is the FIRST big snow, that makes it even more exciter!" (No, that isn't a typo.)

Bethanie Is On A Roll

For a while Sadie was the one saying all of the quotable things. Lately, Bethanie has been cranking them out!
This morning Bethanie asked me why some people have freckles and some people don't. I told her that it had something to do with your genetic make up. (I was tired and that was all that would come to my poor brain.)
Bethanie said, "Ohhhh.... You let me wear make up sometimes!!"

Who Was Right?

At breakfast Bethanie and Sadie were talking about the movie, "The Little Mermaid". Bethanie was saying that Ariel was right and her dad was wrong.
When I was young I thought that too. Now that I am a parent I completely and totally see that her dad was 100% right. :)
I told Bethanie that Ariel's dad was right and Ariel would have been a lot better off if she had obeyed her dad.
That was when she said, "But mom, every girl needs to get a man!!"

I Love You

When Bethanie was about 3 she used to tell me that she loved me all of the time. I would reply with "I love you more!".
One day she came up with her very own Bethanie word that has stuck around in our family since then. On one of those occasions when I told her that I loved her more, she said, "I love you the more-thest!"
I told her that I loved her the "more-thest, more-thest".
We went on from there until she came to the conclusion that she loved me the "more-thest infinity".
Today Bethanie and Sadie told Sean and me that they loved us the "more-thest infinity".
I love that term now and I love to use it right back at the two of them.

His Papers Are In!

My brother Chad sent his mission papers in this week. I am very proud of him and slightly in shock over the fact that he is old enough to be sending in his papers! He is very excited to go.
I just had to share these pictures that were recently taken. One of the pictures has been doctored by my dad. Can you guess which one?? LOL

Practice Makes Perfect

This morning Sadie and I were playing a little game of catch. For the most part, I was catching the stuff that Sadie threw to me. She was kind of having a hard time catching what I was throwing.
She finally got frustrated and said, "Mom, you REALLY need to practice throwing!!"

Self Control

Last night for dinner we had french bread pizza, salad, and (Sean added) potato chips. Sadie was doing really well eating her potato chips, but having a hard time eating her pizza or salad.
She kept asking for more chips and we kept telling her she had to eat her other food first.
Half way through dinner she yelled out, "I know that I shouldn't eat more potato chips but I just HAVE TO HAVE THEM!!!" (She said this as she shoved her little fist in to the bag.)

Not So Bad

Sean got to work yesterday morning and noticed that he had a set of keys in both pockets of his coat. He knew Bethanie had preschool that day and would be very sad if she couldn't go, so he drove back home to drop off my keys.
On the way to preschool Bethanie was saying how glad she was that Sean brought the keys home.
She said, "Daddy is a good dad after all!"

I'm Full

After the big dinner on Thursday Sadie patted her belly and exclaimed, "I am full of MEAT!"

Staples

We had a family first while on our Thanksgiving vacation this past week. On Friday Sean and I took Bethanie to the walk-in clinic to have the huge gash in her head stapled back together!
Bethanie did very well. She didn't like the shot in the back of her head much, or the sound of the staple gun when the dr was putting the staples in, but she was very brave. The dr gave her three stickers as a reward. She immediately put two on and held the third tightly in her hand.
After that was all done Sean and I took her to the store where she picked out a pack of little puzzles. She totally deserved them!
When we got back to grandma and grandpa's house, Bethanie handed her third sticker over to her sister Sadie.
What a great big sister she is! She was thinking of Sadie even when her head wouldn't stop bleeding.

Looking Good Grandpa!

This last week while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving, Bethanie and Sadie took the opportunity to play beauty salon with Grandpa. Bethanie was busy doing Grandpa's hair when she told him,
"Grandpa, we are going to make you look good for women!"
Grandpa got a good laugh off of that comment.

Happy Birthday

A few days ago Bethanie informed us that today, Tuesday, the 20th of November, is her bear's birthday. "Dah" is five years old today.
Bethanie's great aunt Debbie gave her that bear for Christmas the year she was born. I guess it wouldn't be too far fetched to say he was born in November. That would make him a month old when Bethanie got him.
His funny name comes from the fact that she used to call everything with fur a dog, but pronounced it "dah" when she was very little.
That bear looks much different then it did 5 years ago. It looks very loved. :)
Happy Birthday to Dah.
He happens to share a birthday with my friend Danielle, who is not turning 5 today. :)

I HATE them!

Sadie came up to me this morning very upset. She said, "Mom, you should know I HATE cats, watermelons, and onions."
Then she walked away.

Eggs

Sadie loves to watch me make cakes. She will sit as close to me as I will possibly allow (and then slowly inch closer) so she can see every little thing done. She insists on helping me mix up every cake that I bake. She loves every minute of it.
Yesterday she told me, "Mommy, when I get big I am going to make lots and lots of cakes AND I will add my own eggs! No help from you!"

Prayers

I have been so very happy to hear my children saying nice prayers lately. They have been meaningful and thought out. Sadie might be rolling across the floor while saying them, but at least she is thinking about what she is saying! : Þ
Bethanie has made a special effort lately to include her sick grandpa in her prayers, as well as other family members who might need help.
Yesterday when I was completing a cake that needed to be done for a church function today, Sadie included me in her prayer by asking Heavenly Father to "please help mommy to get her cake done". That meant a lot to me and after being completely exhausted from the busy day, got a sudden burst of energy and I was able to do what I needed to!
These prayers are all nice to hear.

Our Little Plumber

Aside from Sadie having a chronic problem with keeping her pants up, no matter what time of day it is, she has decided to even act out the part of a plumber!
The other day Sadie used almost a whole roll of toilet paper after using the bathroom. Amazingly, the whole roll wouldn't flush down. Who knew? She let me know right away that the water wouldn't go down.
After spending quite a bit of time looking for a plunger I found out from Sean that we had not yet purchased a plunger since our move. I told him that he needed to get one because I wanted the toilet to work.
A few minutes later Sadie reappears. I don't know why we didn't notice the silence. She had decided to take it upon herself to fix the toilet. She used her very own hand to scoop all of the paper out of the toilet. She was then able to flush.
She actually fixed the toilet all by her little three year old self.
I think she was slightly surprised at our reaction. I think she expected more praise instead of the "EWWWWWWWWW! GROSSSSSS! Sadie! Don't put your hands in the toilet!" reaction that she got.
Our little plumber.

It's Still On!

Sadie just stacked her little pink chair on top of a kitchen chair and decided to do balancing acts on top of it all. I saw her and told her to get down right away because she was going to break her neck!
She slowly got down, not because she was being careful, but because she didn't really want to obey, and walked over to me.
"Is it still on mom? (Tugging at her head and chin)."
"Is what still on?"
"My head! Is it still on? I think it is still on. It didn't come off! I climbed on the chairs and it didn't come off!"
"Sadie you could really hurt yourself climbing on those chairs. I don't want you to hurt yourself!"
"But look, I can do this, (dancing around)and this! (skipping) And see me turning? My head didn't come off! It didn't! It's still on!"

Sadie Is Cursing

Sadie recently started using her own little curse word when she gets mad. She gets a really grumpy look on her face and says, "OH PICKLES!"
It reminds me of Sister Lucero from our branch who told us if she ever called us a "fishstick" then she was really mad at us. :Þ

No Rest for the Weary

Last night we woke up to Sadie screaming. She was just bawling. Sean went in and rubbed her back for a few minutes and she stopped and fell back to sleep. As soon as Sean got up to leave she started screaming again.
I got up to see what was going on. Sadie is kind of a momma's girl, so I thought I could help with the situation. Sean was trying to get her to tell him what was wrong. She finally screamed "MY HEAD HURTS!!"
I went to get the tylenol. I don't know why I asked, but I asked Sadie where her head hurt. She pointed down her throat. UGH!
Bethanie had strep throat a little over a week ago. I was REALLY hoping that somehow we avoided having it go through the family after a week had passed. In fact, I was bragging to Sean before bed last night that I think we had actually gotten away with it.
I guess we will be taking her in to the dr today.
Now can anyone tell me after a night like that, WHY did both of my kids wake up at 6am???

Startled

Two nights in a row I have opened my eyes in the middle of a deep sleep to find a little person inches from my face and staring at me. That is always startling! No matter how many times they do that it still freaks me out.
Thursday night Bethanie came in around 4am and stared at me. Once I woke up she let me know that she had a horrible dream and could she please crawl in to bed with me. That is when you don't want to be the cold heartless mother, so you say yes, and just pray that THIS time she won't continue to kick you while you are trying to sleep. Apparently that was not to be.
She did let me know what this terrifying dream was of. It was quite frightening. She was at the preschool. It was time to go home. She got in to a car and drove herself to the museum. The end. AHHHHHH!
She told me that she wished I could be in her head so that I really understood how awful it was.
We got through it though.
Friday night at 3am Sadie was the one staring. I woke up and she started talking to me like it was the middle of the day and time for a good chat. She said that Pooh, her favorite bear that accompanies her to bed every night, would NOT let her sleep! He kept waking her up and wanting to play!
I didn't have as much patience with Pooh as I did for the bad dream the night before. I told Sadie that she really needed to tell Pooh to go back to sleep. It was time for everyone to sleep.
Sean heard what was going on at this point and carried her back to bed. I am told she closed her eyes as soon as she hit the pillow. Hmmmm...
Tonight I hope for an uninterrupted night of sleep. Fingers crossed!

I'm such a stinker!

I am so worn out today. I was out cold on the couch while the girls were playing quietly in their room.
Sadie went to the bathroom and was washing her hands. Apparently she was in the bathroom for a while. She walked out to the couch with her pants down around her ankles, the sleeves on her shirt soaking wet all the way up, and crying.
She repeatedly told me that there were "too many bubbles".
When I finally had enough brain power to figure out that she needed me in the bathroom I went in to find a sink and counter full of dense bubbles and the new bottle of hand soap nearly gone. Too many bubbles.
I don't know how she did this. She didn't open the bottle of soap. I guess she just kept pumping it while the water was running?
I told Sadie she was "such a stinker", pulled up her pants, and I walked away.
A minute later Bethanie came in to survey the damage and fix the situation like any oldest child would.
I heard Sadie telling Bethanie, "I am such a stinker! I am such a stinker!!"

The Creature

Today while I was taking a shower Sadie came running in to the bathroom. She said that she was going to the bathroom and a "creature" climbed up her pants. It ran really fast. She took her pants off and threw them.
I have to say that I am really glad this happened to Sadie and not Bethanie. Sadie didn't like the situation, but was reasonably calm. Bethanie would have had a cow right there in the bathroom!
After getting dressed I was able to find the bug. It was a house centipede. You can find a picture of one at http://www.whatsthatbug.com/cent.html .
I have seen one before and I don't like them. I was able to get rid of this one though.
When Sadie and I picked up Bethanie from school, Sadie told Bethanie all about it. She has given the bug a name though. From this time forth we are to refer to said bug as "Huma".
Huma the creature.

PS- Bethanie is five years old today!

Grandkids?

Today I was very achy and sore and feeling pregnant. Bethanie gave me a hug and said, "It's ok mom. I know you don't feel well. I know what it is like to feel pregnant."

You Will Do, I Guess

Last night on the way home from the Pre-school pumpkin night Bethanie was explaining to her dad that the invitation was to Dads, grandpas, or uncles. (So as not to exclude any of the kids.)
Bethanie told Sean that Grandpa couldn't come, and her uncle doesn't live around here, so she decided that her daddy would have to go with her.

Sean was happy to step in and help out. :)

Now Rhyme!

Today I took Sadie to the store to pick out a birthday present for Bethanie. Bethanie and daddy went to the preschool for the daddy pumpkin carving night.

On our way to the store I asked Sadie if she wanted to get the etch-a-sketch that Bethanie wanted.
She said, "Sure, but before we can buy an etch-a-sketch we have to find a word that ryhmes with etch-a-sketch."

Why couldn't Bethanie ask for a dog? ;)

Penny Pincher

Today the girls and I went to the grocery store. When everything was bagged and back in the cart the checker handed me a really long receipt.
Bethanie was amazed. She said, "Mom! That is sooo long. You bought a lot of things. You must have really saved a lot of money!"

Yep. That is what I tell your dad. ;)

Exciting!

In the last few days Bethanie has started sounding out a lot of words. She is doing a great job! She is so very proud of herself and it is really fun for Sean and me to watch her learn to read.
I just had to share that!

Use Your Manners!

While we were eating lunch I was explaining something to Sadie.

Sadie: "Mom! Don't talk while I have food in my mouth! It's rude."

That's Why I'm SMRT!

The kids are having a short fall break this week. Bethanie won't be going to pre-school tomorrow. I was trying to explain this to her.
All of the sudden a light came on in her head.
"OH! It's like a vacation! I remember when spongebob had to take a vacation from the crabby patty. I know exactly what a vacation is. I am so smart because I watch spongebob!"

Yes, exactly. That is why I insist upon you watching as much television as possible every day. I want you to be very smrt. :)

Dinner

Tonight at dinner Sean was talking to me. While Sean was trying to talk to me Sadie kept trying to get my attention.
"Mom, I need to sing you a song. Mom, I need to sing you a song. Mom, I need to sing you a song. Mom, I need to sing you a song. Mom, I need to sing you a song. Mom, I need to sing you a song."
(Are you getting the point here?)
I finally turned to her and told her that her dad was talking to me and she needed to wait until we were done.
Once again she told me she needed to sing a song. I told her to go ahead.
"Um, I can't. It's a secret."

Later during dinner Sean told Sadie that she needed to "behave".

Sadie:"I AM being haive!"

Correction Noted

Me: Oh brother, Sadie.
Sadie: No Mommy! NOT Oh brother! Oh sister! Oh sister mommy!

Short And To The Point

Sadie: "Mom, you are so ridik-uh-lus!"

The Worst Day Ever

I asked Bethanie to pick up her toys in her bedroom and in the living room that were on the floor. She gave me the "how can you ask me to do that?" look and fell to the floor in a heap.
"Mom, this is the worst day of my life!"
So I asked her, "Is this the worst day of your life because I asked you to pick up your toys??"
She nodded her head.
"Well, just so you know I pick up toys and do dishes EVERY DAY of my life. What does that make my life? Is every day worst then the next? Do I live a completely miserable exsistence?"

Somehow this whole concept shocked her in to silence. She picked up her toys. :)

Don't Let Her Testify

This morning Sean caught Sadie doing something she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing. She looked at him and asked,
"Dad, are you going to beat me?"
Sean told her that dad and mom DON'T beat her.
She said, "Yes you do! You and mom beat me. I PROMISE."

Sean told me never to let Sadie testify in a court of law.

I Love These Times

Bethanie came up to me and asked me one of those questions that a mother, who is doing her best to teach her children, loves to hear!

"Mom, why was Jesus baptized if he didn't have any sins?"

We spent some time talking about that for a while and the great example that Jesus is to us. It was a lovely moment.

I Will Try That Next Time

Bethanie has decided that because it is October we need to leave all of the lights off in the house. We need to have the Halloween atmosphere.
Since the sun has decided not to shine upon us today it is very dark in my house. I turned a light on in the kitchen.
Bethanie turned it off.
I turned it on.
Bethanie turned it off.
I finally tried to explain to her that the light needed to stay on so I could see what I was doing.
She ran away.
Bethanie, will you PLEASE turn the light back on?
Nothing.
Bethanie, PLEASE turn the light back on.
Nothing.
BETHANIE, GET BACK HERE AND TURN THE LIGHT ON NOW!!!
Here she comes.
"Mom! I will do it if you will ask nicely, GEE!"
Right, I will remember that for next time. : Þ

There Goes Another One

I am pretty sure we are going to lose another goldfish today. It looks pretty inevitable. To the blog's one fan, Jill, the answer to your question, which fish died, is simple. I don't know.
All of the goldfish, except one, look the same to me. The only one that I know is Nilly. Nilly is the color of cooking vanilla. I am pretty much positive that my kids didn't do that on purpose, but it is how I remember that name.
So, I do know that Nilly is not the fish that died. I will let you all know when he does. :)

A Good Day For Blogging

There were quite a few quotable things said today in my home.

At about 8:45 this morning I went in to Sadie's room to get her out of bed so that I could take Bethanie to preschool. At 8:45 I had to wake Sadie up! That doesn't happen every day.
I shook her gently and she opened her eyes and looked at me. The first thing she said was, "Mom, don't ever, ever wake up a sleeping person. Ever."
Ok, so she isn't a morning person.

Later I looked at Sadie and asked her why she was so cute. She looked right back at me and said, "Mom, you are just jealous. You just aren't as cute as I am."
I am raising a blunt child.

Bethanie learned about Christopher Columbus at school this week. She was very excited to tell her father and me all about him at dinner. Did you know that there were sailors that actually thought the world was flat? OH MY GOSH!

Relax Mom!

Yesterday Sadie climbed up and got in to the caramel popcorn bowl on the counter. She popped some in her mouth and ran over to me to show it off.
"Look what I got mom!"
"Sadie, you didn't ask and you don't need popcorn right now. No more."
"RELAX MOM! I love it. If I love it then I want to eat it. If I want to eat it then I should eat it. RELAX!"
"Sadie, no more popcorn!"
"RELAX MOM! RELAX!"

One down

One fish down, four to go.
Um, why does our house smell like fish food today???

Bad Mom!

Last week at Bethanie's preschool they did a whole unit on teeth and most importantly -brushing them.
My kids each own a tooth brush. They have gone through several actually. They even each have their own tube of toothpaste! (No fighting) I SWEAR that Sean and I have taught them to brush. Every night up until about last week we have had to go in and wrestle down our kids and make them brush before bed. We have even told them that their teeth will fall right out of their heads if they don't. (I am hoping their isn't permanent damage and a need for therapy when their teeth actually do fall out. :) )
This morning as Bethanie was getting ready for school she said, "I NEED TO BRUSH MY TEETH!"
Great! Do it! Please do! I would love that!
Then she went on to tell me that the kids got stickers on a chart last week for every day they brushed their teeth before school. Bethanie is the only one without any stickers.
UGH!
So there you have it. I get the bad mom award for the day. Sheesh.

Going Fishing

Friday night Sean and I took the girls on "dates". He took Sadie out and I took Bethanie out. We all went our seperate ways and took care of some errands and then got a treat for the girls.
When we were loading up our seperate cars Sean asked Sadie what kind of treat she wanted to get. She told him that she wanted a "Chocolate Smith".
What exactly is a Chocolate Smith?
Well, Sadie says it is just like a Joseph Smith, except it is chocolate.
I have never seen one of those before. Maybe they could find one at the BYU bookstore. :)
I think it is funny that while out on our little dates Bethanie and I ended up looking at different pets like fish, birds, etc. Sean and Sadie also went in to check out a pet store while they were out.
The difference is that Sean and Sadie came home with 5 goldfish. Bethanie and I came home with ingredients to make caramel popcorn.
So, now we have goldfish. The girls carefully picked out names for each of them. Their official names are Nilly, Willy, Silly, Billy, and Chili.
Sadie happens to call them by whatever name comes out of her mouth at the time. Occasionally I have heard Tilly or Milly. I have even heard Elmo.
I guess we will see how long these fish last. Luckily they were 12 cents a piece.
You are welcome to email me with your bets on their life expectancy.
Let me just tell you that Sadie has already tried to feed the godlfish macaroni and cheese, and Bethanie has already tried to entertain them by blowing bubbles in to their aquarium.

Let There Be Light

I have to start out by documenting this day in the history books. It is nearly 5:30 in the evening. My kids have not fought once today. They did everything I asked them to do. They even cleaned up their room. It was a strange day.

One of the games they decided to play today was Super Hero. This one comes up every now and then. Their super hero names are "China Girl" (I will let you guess which child chose that name) and Sticky Girl (I have no idea why).

Some poor, helpless woman was stuck in her house without any lights on. She was sitting in the dark!! (I believe this woman did have the blinds open and the sun was shining through.)
These wonderful super heroes saw that there was a need and "swooped" right in to take care of it.
Every light in my house is now on. :)
"We saved the day again!!!"
Another productive day comes to a close.

An Oldie but a Goodie

This one is a classic. One of my personal favorites.

One morning Bethanie went in to the family room and turned on the t.v. looking for PBS.

This is what she said to me later that day,

“Mom, this morning when I was looking for Between the Lions I found a show about hip hop! It actually helps you lose SIZES! I think it could work for you too!”



What was she trying to tell me? LOL

Remembering

My mom was reminding me the other day of some things that Bethanie said when she was Sadie's age. It is really too bad I didn't have a blog then so I could remember all of those!
She reminded me of one time when we told Bethanie she had to ride in the stroller. She kept screaming, "Princesses don't ride in strollers! Princesses DON'T ride in strollers!"
That was when we ran right out and bought her a pumpkin that we could strap her on to. ;)

Shhhhh!

At dinner Sean and I were having a conversation about something or other when Sadie interrupted us.
"SHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh! I am trying to listen to the spirit! I can't hear it when you are talking!"
We have such a spiritual giant on our hands. ;)

Get Low!

Yesterday my favorite moment of the day was definitely watching Sadie talking on the phone with my mom. I was on the phone with her and Sadie decided she had something very important that she needed to share.
Sadie and Bethanie had received some books in the mail from my mother in law. One of those books was a safety book with Dora. It went through different situations and the kids had to pick out which people were doing things safely and which people were making bad safety choices.
Sadie wanted to make sure that my mother was aware of what was safe and what wasn't. My mom just celebrated her 50th birthday and her mind is going. She could have forgotton those important things. ;)
Sadie went page by page and pointed at different situations. She asked my mom if they were doing things "safely". (Sadie still thinks the people she talks to can see everything she is doing over the phone.)
She insisted that my mom answer yes or no. This was a difficult task since my mom couldn't see the book or understand half of what Sadie was saying!
I found the whole situation extremely funny! I especially had a hard time holding in the laughs when Sadie got to the fire safety page! She instructed my mom to "GET LOW!" and how to "stop, drop, and roll". She then proceded to show her how to do it. All of this with the telephone to her ear.
I finally got smart and picked up the camera and took a video on our end. Too bad I missed the fire safety part. That was classic!
I finally was able to talk Sadie in to handing me back the phone when she started running for a second book. She had my mom on the phone for a good ten minutes before that.

Is That A Good Thing?

Today I told Bethanie that I loved her more than chocolate cake. She told me that she loved me more than all of the good smelling hair spray.
I am feeling very blessed and loved today. :)

Are You Sure?

I don't believe that I mentioned that Sadie chose a nickname for herself the other day. She demanded that we call her by it. Luckily it was short lived!
I just don't think I would feel comfortable referring to my three year old daughter as "Mad Dog" in public. :)
I just don't know if people would understand.

What Does That Mean?!

Today Sadie came out of the bathroom brushing her hands off. She looked at us and said, "Done! My work here is done!"

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

This is what I have been working on for the last ten days!

TEN DAYS of Insanity

I apologize for the gap in posts. We have been without Internet access for 10 days. They actually were supposed to come and hook things up tomorrow, but I called and complained that it was going to take 2 weeks when they told me 5 days at first.
They heard my complaint and responded. They came one day early. : Þ

In the last 10 days the girls have both said many interesting things. HOWEVER, my house was in total chaos and I am pregnant. I can not be expected to remember those things for very long!

I do remember a few things. A few days ago I celebrated a birthday. We found a trustworthy young woman from church who was willing to come and watch the girls while Sean took me out to dinner. This was quite an exciting thing for us!
The girls heard that Sean was taking me out to dinner for my birthday and that they were staying home with a babysitter. This was quite upsetting for Bethanie. She said,
"Why would dad take YOU to a restaurant for your birthday and not take us when WE are the ones that like restaurants?!"
I don't know why her dad would do that. Sean and I both hate going to restaurants without our children. It is way too quiet. We don't have to ask the server for three new forks because the others are on the floor. We actually taste our food...
Well, I don't even have to say that my birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse was perfectly horrid without my children. ;)

Sadie has also given us further knowledge on her "China-girl" life in the last 10 days. For example, I did not know that a China girl actually has special powers.
When we asked the girls if they thought we would be having a baby girl or a baby boy Sadie said,
"A baby girler! I PROMISE you are having a baby girler! If you don't have a baby girler and you have a baby boy, then I will use my china girl powers to turn the baby boy in to a baby girler!"

Hmmmm.... I guess we should start thinking of girl names then, huh?

Priceless?

A Clorox Bleach Pen to get all of the crayon out of the (thank heaven it's) white down comforter on Sadie's bed: $3.00

Loctite Gel controlled super glue to put the lamp shade back together: $2.50

Old English Scratch Cover Furniture Polish for dark wood to cover up Bethanie's BITE MARKS on the coffee table: $4.00

Pampered Chef scraper to scrape the cheap black melted spatula out of the frying pan: $3.00

Avoiding having to pay the temporary housing company for a down comforter, lamp, coffee table, and frying pan: PRICELESS!! :)

Enlightenment

Last night Sadie gave us further insight into her "China Girl" world.
She told us that she became a China girl when she went to China and was there for a really long time. Because she was there for so long she just changed.
When Sean asked her how she got there she said, "You don't remember? I went on the airplane and you (her dad) had to go with me because they wouldn't let me on the airplane by myself."

Some how Sean has blocked out this really long airplane ride that he took with Sadie. I can totally see why. A plane trip that long while trying to keep Sadie in her seat and quiet surely had to be traumatic for him.

(I would like to dedicate this post to my friend Danielle who had a baby girl yesterday. I am looking forward to her future stories. : > )

A Haircut Like That

Yesterday I finally found a place that the girls could get their hair cut. They needed hair cuts pretty bad. It ended up not going as smoothly as I would have liked. I am sure you are all waiting for a really good ..."because Sadie did this..." story, but it was actually due to the fact that the two hair dressers kept arguing and decided to put ME in the middle. It was a fun time for all.

ANYWAY, we were sitting there waiting for the girls to be called when Sadie spotted an older lady getting her hair done. She had one of the typical older lady haircuts. It was shorter on the back and sides, longer and curled on top.
Sadie was in awe. She just gawked at this lady. She told me when she grew up she was going to get a haircut just like that one. The funniest part about it was the hushed, reverent tone she took on whenever she talked about this haircut.

I think when and if she ever does go for that haircut I will tell her to avoid that particular place. UGH!

Make Sense?

Sadie: "Mom, if you don't let me help you (make dinner) then you won't have sense. If you do let me help you then you will have sense. It makes sense!"

(I am not making this up.)

Writ of Passage

The thing that Bethanie said to her dad last night is something that every child probably says in one way or another. I consider it a writ of passage.
Last night she told Sean, "When I get in trouble, I wish that I didn't have parents!"

I am sure that when I was young I felt the same way. I do think it is funny that when she gets sent to her bed to sit on it for five minutes, or when she is told she can't watch the television for a while (heaven forbid) that her parents are just cruel and she would rather live without them.

Ironically, last week she told Sean she was going to run away and live in a hotel. Considering the day we had Sean agreed and asked if Bethanie would take Sadie with her. He even offered to make the reservation and pay the hotel bill.
Somehow this was not ok with Bethanie and she admitted that she would never want to leave her mommy and daddy because she loved them too much.
How quickly they forget. :)

Leftovers

I need to go to the grocery store and get food to put in to our empty refrigerator. Not feeling very inspired, I asked Sadie what we should eat for dinner.

"Leftovers"
"That would be very nice Sadie, but we don't have any leftovers."
"Don't worry mom! We can just go to the store and get some!"
"Right."

Sadie is their leader

Today I considered the fact that the aliens took Sadie too, but then I realized that is just ridiculous. She is probably their leader.

Sadie and I were having a disagreement about if she should wear pull ups or big girl underwear. She recently decided she prefers pull ups because they "don't have any tags!".
I don't think she understands that they are much more expensive so we only use them at night.
I don't get this whole tag thing anyway. Those pull ups never looked that comfortable to me!

Anyway, Sadie disappeared after our little discussion. She showed up again wearing pull ups. Can you guess what she said to me?

"HA HA HA MOM! I didn't listen to you! I am wearing pull ups!"

I had no response to that.

Alien Invasion

This is neither cute or clever. This particular thing that was said by Bethanie was one of those moments when, as a mother, you go into instant panic mode.
We were at a BBQ on Saturday with Sean's new co-workers. Sean, of course, is eager to impress. The daughter (about 10 or 11 years old) of his new "mentor" took Bethanie and Sadie under her wing the second we arrived at the house and took them away to play.
At the end of the evening it was time to pack up and go. We were standing there with all of the kids when I asked Bethanie and Sadie to please say thank you to this girl that had spent all evening entertaining them.
"NO!"
Huh? "Say Thank you please Bethanie."
"NO!"

>This is when I started to panic. This couldn't really be my sweet little Bethanie. Obviously there were aliens that entered our temporary apartment last night and took the real Bethanie and left this one.<

I gave her what I felt was one of my best, -Do it or you will regret this later!- looks and asked her once again to please say thank you. After a third no, I gave up. I looked her right in the face and told her to say thank you- NOW!

Ugh. I really hope that the aliens come back tonight and bring her back. I miss her terribly.

Brilliant Bethanie

Bethanie is 4 years old. She is very logical and very methodical. She is also very sweet and loving. The other day she said something that just blew me away. Maybe it is because I am her mom.

Because we are new to this area Sean and I have been mapquesting everywhere we go. Sean had me read him directions as we were driving to the zoo. On the way home Bethanie noticed that I wasn't reading Sean any directions.

Bethanie said,
"Mom, if you have directions on the way there but not the way back, does that just mean that you use the same directions but you go backwards?"

I just looked at Sean with my mouth open and said, "Uh, yes." :)

Recent Sayings to Get You Caught Up

Me: Sadie, remember you have to be good today.

Sadie: I AM! How many times must I tell you that I am?

Me: (trying not to laugh) Ok

Sadie: I have told you that I am an angel and can do things by myself!

Me: Angels have to be good too. I love you Sadie.

Sadie: (Bottom lip out) I just don't care!


-----------------------

This next LOOONG story was an email that I sent out to friends and family.

As some of you know, Sadie started speaking in sentences as soon as she started speaking. She always has something deep and insightful for us. Every few days I will have a new Sadie quote to tell my mom about when she asks.
Since she started talking I don't think she has said so many quotable things in one day as she did today. I have to share. A few of the quotes have background stories, so I will have to start before today. :)

About a month ago Sadie told me that she was from China. She is a China girl and she speaks China. She has not given that up.
Because my girls have birthdays at the end of Sept and Oct it has become a tradition for my mom to get the girls their Halloween costumes for their birthdays. They usually choose something that they can play dress up in all year long.
Sadie has insisted that she wants to be Elmo this year. That is fine, I am sure she will look adorable, but I also know that she has an issue with itchy clothing. She won't wear ANYTHING that looks like it might itch. (Half of the time she won't wear it even if it doesn't!)
I have been trying to talk Sadie in to getting a costume that she will be more comfortable in and that she can play in the rest of the year. I saw a cute little Asian dress. I tried to talk Sadie in to wearing that for Halloween. That was when Sadie said,
"Mom, I am a China girl every day. For Halloween I want to be something different. I want to be Elmo"
(Please note that I am not inserting words here!)

Later today when Sean asked her when she became a China girl she told him,
"A while ago Jesus Christ turned me in to a China girl, so I am a China girl."
So there you go, in case any of you wondered.

Sadie has an issue with change. She doesn't like it. She also has an addiction. She still has her pacifier! She won't give it up. We have tried, and frankly it was not an experience I wish to discuss.
I decided that we would wait until after our move and she gets through that before we get rid of the pacifier for good. I informed her that on her 3rd birthday the pacifier will know she is too old and it will just spontaneously break. (ok, I lied)
We have not yet reached her third birthday and conveniently the pacifier is falling apart on it's own. There is about half of it left. She still sucks on it. She also reminds us all of the time that when she turns three it will break all of the way.
Tonight at dinner she told us that she didn't like that her pacifier was breaking. All of the sudden she threw herself from her chair on to her knees and started praying. She prayed to Heavenly Father that the pacifier would be fixed and would not break.
We spent the next 10 minutes explaining that not all prayers are answered with a yes. We even were asked for examples.
About that time Sadie got bored with her ravioli and started poking and throwing around her bread. I told her that I was going to take the bread away and that she couldn't have it until she finished her ravioli if this continued.
Well, it did. So I did.
Once again she threw herself to her knees and prayed.
"Please Heavenly Father tell Jesus to make my mom give me back my bread now. I want it!"

(At this point Sean and I are trying not to fall out of our chairs we are laughing so hard.)

The day ended with another Sadie quote. Bethanie is starting preschool tomorrow and she informed us that she is a little bit nervous. Sadie told her sister, "If you want to make friends, you have to try!"
That is a good one to live by. I need to remember that one.

Sadie is definitely a handful, but she is a joy as well. Thanks for reading that whole long email. It was my therapy for the day.

Getting started

My two little girls have been at the top of their game lately. They have had so many clever things to say that I have been constantly calling my family to share.
Since I much prefer typing then writing things out by hand in my journal, I thought this would be a fun way to remember these funny little things and share with others!
I will start with what Sadie said to me this morning driving home from taking Bethanie to preschool!
We were coming up on a "hill" in the road. (Um, it's flat here.)

Sadie: Mom, are we going up that hill?

Me: Yes, Sadie. We have to if we want to get home.

Sadie: But Jack and Jill got hurt when they went up a hill. Are we going to get hurt?!

Me: I think we will be ok because we are driving and being careful.

Sadie: But Jack fell down and broke his crown on a hill!

Me: Well, I guess he wasn't being very careful then, was he?

Sadie: Nope!